Homecoming
by shadowsteed
Summary: What if things went differently at the ball and Sarah made it out alive and safe. What decition will she make? Will she stay with Alfred to live the life of peace, or will she return to follow her heart and her destiny?


_Hallo! So this is a little Tanz der Vampire story I put together. I hope you will like it. _

Sarah glanced through the window of the carriage, which was currently bumping quickly along the dusty transylvanian road. With every minute, with every step of their horses, she could feel them getting further and further away from this place and while her reason was telling her to be happy, inside, she felt anxious and a deep desperation, coming to her in a strangely distant way, as if it wasn't really hers. She looked at the seat next to her and there, she saw Alfred, who, tired from last night's happenings, was sleeping next to her, her hand in his. Alfred, the gentle, kind-hearted boy she could fall in love with under any other circumstanced. Her heart, which never knew the evil and the hate of the world outside her simple, but safe home, was now torn between that what she truly wanted to do and that what she knew she should do. She knew that Alfred risked his life for her and she knew how cruel it would be, after she gave him new hope, to throw everything away, but at the same time she couldn't supress the feelings of guilt she felt, as she remembered the look in those eyes when she looked back, for the last time, before running out of the ballroom.

The count. Sarah sighed and blinked, as tears started pouring into her eyes. Alfred loved her, she knew that, but it was a love of a confused, exited youth, that could be as fleeting as a dew drops, that shines upon the summer morning grass, only to be dried by the sun as it rises to the midday sky. It was a love of a young, inexperienced boy who couldn't give her more than she could give him herself. With the count, it was different. In his eyes she could see the depths of time, and promises of eternity he wanted to give to her and only to her. In his eyes, she could see the true depths of the feelings he had for her and it was a depth she could drown in, if the count wasn't holding her tightly in his arms. She knew that in his long life, he had to meet many better, more beautiful women than she was, and yet when he looked at her, the pain and the never-ending sadness that emanated from him seemed to vanish, and she knew that the count loved her with a love that will survive for long centuries. His skin, when he touched her, was cold, but there was a warmth coming from his heart that warmed her restless soul. When she first came to his castle, when she first heard his voice, when he whispered to her about their future together, she knew that here, by his side, far from worries and troubles of her previous life, she will spent an eternity with him.

But then, on the ball, when she entered the hall and she saw the huge crowd, looking at her with their empty, hungry looks, with their teeth bared and their long-clawed hands outstretched forward, she realised just what exactly she agreed to, and what exactly did that decition meant for her, and somewhere in her mind sounded the bitter voice of doubt, which together with the horror that got a hold of her when she saw the terrifying crowd, and that nearly frozen her to the spot, caused that she couldn't find any solace even in the dark, calm eyes of the count, who was waiting for her beneath the stairs. The look in them was reassuring, but she could also see something like an impatient, joyful expectation the count couldn't suppress. And when Alfred, unable to obey the professor's warnings when he saw her, grabbed her hand and pulled her, in front of the still shocked vampires, out of the door, while murmuring comforting words, that everything will be alright, she followed him, cause her scared and confused mind was unable to think clearly in the moment.

But now she was sitting here, on her way out of this place, and thinking about what she was leaving behind made her wanting to cry. They arrived to the village by sunrise, and Sarah knew that if the count didn't manage to find her then, he won't be able to do it now. The tears she was previously hiding now started, in warm currents falling down her cheeks., and in an attepmt not to wake the sleeping young boy she pushed back the desperate sobs that were trying to push their way out. Pro would her own life mean more to her that the oportunity to give a poor, troubled soul, which she love bore than anithing else, a little bit of happiness in his own, even if it means being damned foreverer? Sarah wasn't sure what sentence was more sacrilagious, but no matter what, she knew that her life will never be happy again, not even with the newly gained freedom, a freedom to go wherever she wanter a do whatever she wanted, will never make up for what she lost. Not even in Alfred hands, who thousand times promised her his love and protection, she knew that she will never forget the old vampire deep in the mountains, a vampire that covered her with his love for s long time since she was born, she will never forget.

Sun shone inside through the carriage window and she shielded her eyes against it. She knew that the count was propably sleeping in old castle crypt. Or maybe not. She wondered if he was thinking about her as much as she was thinking about him, and he would ever forgive her. Carefully, she leaned from the window and breathed the cold air deeply to clear her head, and in that moment, a light breeze flew around her head. A her eyes widened in surprise, as it suddenly seemed to her as if she could hear his voice in the whispering wind. „Sarah..." whispered the illusion, and the gentle stroke of the wind felt like if she could feel his hand on her cheek. Just like then, that evening when they danced together in the empty hall, when she first ended up in his arms. And when the carriage turn on the road that she could still spot the glistening of light in the windows of his castle, she could no longer stop the flood of tear and they started pouring out down her cheeks.

The sound of her crying woke Alfred up and he immediately took her in his arms, whispering soothing words into her ear, as he mistook her cries as a show of fear of being cought again. But Sarah wasn't listening to him. She couldn't stop the flurry of sadness and desperation, which was tearing her heart apart. But then, unexpectedly, she could feel the sadness miraculously vanishing away, and peace settled within her soul, and she knew, even though she didn't know how, that is wasn't from her, but from him. The count, who was trying to calm her down, was silently sending her his words od forgiveness. And as she was lying there, in the arms of a boy she didn't love, but who she could hate because of kind heart, seeking comfort in the feelings she felt, a decition was born within her heart, a decition she knew she had to do now, or she may never do it at all. And so, with a last look of apology she threw at him, she torn herself from Alfred's arms, opened the door, and jumped from the still moving carriage. A sharp pain shot through her body when she fell on the hard ground, but she almost didn't feel it, she could hear Alfred's terrified shouts behind her, but she almost didn't take notice, and before the carriage had a chance to stop, she lifted herself up on her legs and ran in the direction she sensed that she should go. She could feel something pulling her forward, guiding her like an invisible hand in the right direction, and she could feel excitement within her, she didn't know if it was his or hers, she didn't care, she felt just like the old Sarah, the one who ran away from home following a prospect of better life.

She knew they were running after her, she could hear Alfred's quick steps, and the profesor's heavy breathing, as they followed her through the snow, and she felt fear in her heart, an enormous fear that she will be cought, fear that she will never get another opportunity to escape and that they will take away from here against her will. But the count only answered with a new, calming wave of emotions, which, for Sarah, felt like a loving embrace that chased away the fear and protected her from the winter cold. And then she heard it. The howling. From all sides the howling of the wolfs sounded, and while behind her, Sarah could hear two terryfied screams, she didn't feel any fear of them. And when they finally appeared, deep inside, she felt they came to help her. And indeed, the wolfs passed without any notice, and created an unpenetratable barrier between her and her persuers. She wanted to run away happily, but then she stopped and, worried, she turned and looked at the wolf pack. She didn't want those two to get hurt, but the fear within her was once again chased away by the count, whose silent promise that nothing will happen to them she could now hear inside her head.

It didn't take long and Sarah finally stood before the stony castle gate. His dark, gloomy design, that envoke so much dread in her when she last come her, now filled her with happiness, and not even a look at the cemetery gate, where she knew all the vampires that didn't have a noble blood were sleeping, could spoil her happiness. And the gate, which was always tightly closed, now miraculously opened before, along with the castle door themselves, and as soon she stepped inside, the door closed behind her and she forgot about the whole world. The winter cold was gone and her pulse quickened, as she felt the strings of longing excitement she never felt before. She could fight the strenght of these emotions and when she closed her eyes, she saw the count in front of her mind's eye, who was wainting in his crypt. She opened her eyes and ran than, being led by the voice of her love, who was whispering in her ears.

And then, finally, she ran down the stairs and when she saw him, her heart almost stopped. There he was, as beautiful and graceful as he was before, and still, just as always, his presence felt to her like a dream, like a beautiful, beautiful dream she never wanted to wake up from. And when he turned to her and looked at her with those eyes, in which a huge desire combined with happiness was reflecting, and which looked, as if they aged a few centuries from the sorrow he endured, she knew she will not leave him again. She knew she wouldn't be able to do it now. She knew that she was connected to the count, with a bond no mortal could sever. She was loosing herself in the depths of his dark eyes, that looked at her, as always, with a mixture of desire for her love and a desire for her blood, and suddenly, Sarah felt a wave of exhaustion, and her legs, unable to support her any longer, buckled beneath her. But she didn't hit the ground, instead she felt the embrace of a two strong arms around her that brought her to her feet and then took her face in their palms.

„Sarah..." he whispered, and rested his forehead against hers. Sarah closed her eyes and in her heart, she could feel the bliss she only felt when she was in his arms. She felt like her whole life was moving towards this very moment, when they will be alone just the two of them, on the edge of eternity, without being separated by her dark, bottomless abyss. Then suddenly, her wild stream of thought was interrupted when the count suddenly bent down, and put his lips to hers. In that moment she stopped breathing and her heart leaped within her chest, but then she wrapped her hands around his neck and completely submited to the feelings this moment was making her feel. It was their moment, just theirs, and she felt that before the night comes, they will be connected with a bond so powerful, that nothing and no one will be able to separate them. And when the night comes, than their eternity will truly begin. And indeed, when their kiss ended and the count once again looked into her eyes, they shone with a strange light, which seemed to come from an entirely different world, a world of the abysmal past and a distant future and their secrets, that only he can unlock for her. And she looked at him and everything she wanted to tell him and couldn't find the words for, was seen in her eyes. Then she nodded and slowly, almost seductively, he bend down to her neck and before her first, painful scream, which immediately turned into gasps of unimaginable pleasure, ended, she knew that the destiny she has been waiting for her entire life, has just been fulfiled...


End file.
